Browse Archives
Check out news and opinion posts across the years
July 22, 2014
American Baptist College in Talks About Developing Riverfront (The Tennessean) Tallahassee Church Leaders Plan Response to Gun Violence (Tallahassee Democrat) Billy Graham Has Shaped Life in Colorado Springs, World...
TV Network Will Air EthicsDaily.com Documentary on Baptists and Racism
Soul of the South Network (SSN) will begin airing "Beneath the Skin: Baptists and Racism" at 8 p.m. CST July 28. A special 47-minute version of EthicsDaily.com's award-winning documentary will be broadcast multiple...
“Because Here It’s Not Far From Hell”
Three Israeli teenagers hitchhiking to their homes were kidnapped in the West Bank on June 12. Israel accused Hamas and initiated an operation to search for the three teenagers. During this operation, Israel arrested...
Goodwill Global Baptists Pivot to Africa
The Baptist World Alliance (BWA) pivoted to Sub-Saharan Africa at its annual gathering this year in Izmir, Turkey, with the election of a new president from Africa and plans for the 2015 World Baptist Congress in South...
In the islands …
A tour of what remains of ancient cities in Turkey that were home to some of the earliest churches came with the option of spending three days on a cruise through several Greek islands, culminating with a day in...
Reformation’s Religious Image-Breaking Spurred Literacy
In a recent Times Literary Supplement, David Motadel reviewed James Noyes' 2013 book, "The Politics of Iconoclasm: Religion, Violence and the Culture of Image-Breaking in Christianity and Islam." The review and the...
Survey: Jews, Christians Viewed Most Positively in U.S.
Jews and Christians are viewed most positively in the U.S., according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. A scale was created for the survey called the "feeling thermometer," in which respondents were asked to...
When the Syrian Refugee Crisis Becomes Personal
Like many concerned with the news in and around Lebanon, I receive regular updates from The Daily Star, one of the English language news providers in Lebanon. Almost daily, I receive, via my phone, a brief news feed...
July 18, 2014
Hobby Lobby Family: Our $800m D.C. Bible Museum Will Save U.S. From a 'Very Scary' Future (Raw Story) NY Bill, Reacting to Hobby Lobby Ruling, Requires Notice of Contraception Coverage Changes (USA Today) The Potential...
Extravagant Investments, Extraordinary Returns
A sermon by Michael Cheuk, Pastor, University Baptist Church, Charlottesville, Va. July 13, 2014. Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 This morning’s Gospel lesson is called the Parable of the Sower. Since I’m basically a city boy,...
Come to Me
A sermon by Randy Hyde, Pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church, Little Rock, Ar. July 13, 2014 Zechariah 9:9-12; Matthew 11:25-30 How are you feeling this morning? Did you get enough rest last night? The answer to that...
All You Need is (God’s) Love
A sermon by Keith Herron, Pastor, Holmeswood Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. I Corinthians 13 July 13, 2014 What is it in your life, what activity or what driving force, makes you so happy it makes your heart sing?...
When In-Your-Face Evangelists Drive You Crazy
On a Saturday afternoon, I am on the top deck of a bus in northwest London when a young woman comes up the stairs and starts preaching loudly. The bus is full of people who are all minding their own business, hoping...
Partisanship, Prayers for Peace Offer Contrasting Responses to Gaza Conflict
Partisan politics is manifested everywhere—even the Israel-Palestine conflict. "The partisan gap in Mideast sympathies has never been wider," Pew Research said of a recent survey regarding views on Israel and...
Individual, Church Initiatives Can Change Climate Trends
Climate change is not inevitable. So says the United Nations, countering the pessimism found in previous studies. Their report is the product of a study seeking "to understand and show how individual countries can...
July 17, 2014
Passport's Founders Spearheaded Quiet Shift in How Youth Hear God's Call (ABP) Evangelical Christians Love Jews, But the Feeling is Not Mutual (Boston Globe) Democratic Bid to Reverse Hobby Lobby Fails (Politico) Hobby...
The challenge in challenging cultural Christianity
By John Pierce My minister friends can relate to this scenario: Following a sermon, a listener tells the conveyor of the message just how wonderful and touching were the words they heard. The conversation lingers and...
Morality Without Faith-Based Standard is Too Fluid
Living in a climate of fiscal uncertainty—which would be a very nonchalant way of describing the current global economic reality—has produced a spirit of reckless fatalism. We may watch the ticker tape on our TV screen...
Global Baptists Speak Out on Religious Liberty, Justice, Migration
As more than 300 Baptists from 59 countries gathered in Izmir, Turkey, for the annual gathering of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), they raised a collective voice on key issues around the world. Those gathered also...
ISIS: Storm in a Teacup or Real Threat?
On the morning of June 30, various media channels reported that ISIS declared the Muslim "caliphate" stretching across Iraq and Syria. ISIS refers to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (or Levant), a Sunni Muslim...
July 16, 2014
Pastor Named Baptist General Convention of Virginia President (Suffolk News-Herald) Secular Humanists Must be Allowed to Officiate Marriages in Indiana, 7th Circuit Says (ABA Journal) What Does the Rosetta Stone Tell...